Brain-Dead Toddler's Organs Donated, Giving Life To 5 Children

The organs of a brain-dead baby in India have given a new lease of life to five children.

Jash Oza was rushed to a hospital in Surat, a town in the western Indian state of Gujarat, on Dec. 9 after he fell from a second-floor balcony. Tests revealed the 2-and-a-half-year-old boy had suffered a brain hemorrhage and swelling. Five days later, he was declared brain dead by the doctors.

The child's parents agreed to donate his organs. Within 160 minutes, the baby's heart and lungs were transported to the southern Indian city of Chennai via air. The boy's heart was given to a 4-year-old child from Russia and the lungs to a 4-year-old boy from Ukraine.

The toddler's kidneys were transported by road to a hospital in Ahmedabad, a town 165 miles away, where the organs were transplanted into two teens. A 2-year-old boy from the same state got the toddler's liver.

"The family was shattered after doctors told them that their little one was brain dead. Sanjeev [the baby's father] has also been creating awareness about cadaver donation and in such a difficult situation, he decided on organ donation," Nilesh Mandlewala, the founder of Donate Life, a nonprofit, told the news outlet The Times of India.

He added that the child's mother was hopeful that her son would recover after he once uttered the word "mummy."

"But when we explained to her that he was medically dead and his vital organs won't be useful if they wait for too long, she was also convinced and told us that she wants to see her son alive in more people," Mandlewala told the outlet.

Sanjeev and his wife also have a 6-year-old daughter.

"My son's organ donation will keep my son alive in other children," Sanjeev told Ahmedabad Mirror.

The toddler's corneas have since been donated to Lok Drashti Chakshu Bank, an eye bank in Surat.